Kyabje Nawang Gehlek Rimpoche () was a

Tibetan Buddhist Tibetan Buddhism is a form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet, Bhutan and Mongolia. It also has a sizable number of adherents in the areas surrounding the Himalayas, including the Indian regions of Ladakh, Darjeeling, Sikkim, and Arunachal Prades ...

lama Lama () is a title bestowed to a realized practitioner of the Dharma in Tibetan Buddhism. Not all monks are lamas, while nuns and female practitioners can be recognized and entitled as lamas. The Tibetan word ''la-ma'' means "high mother", ...

born in

Lhasa Lhasa, officially the Chengguan District of Lhasa City, is the inner urban district of Lhasa (city), Lhasa City, Tibet Autonomous Region, Southwestern China. Lhasa is the second most populous urban area on the Tibetan Plateau after Xining ...

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

on October 26, 1939. His personal name was Gelek; ''kyabje'' and '' rimpoche'' are titles meaning "teacher" (lit., "lord of refuge") and "precious," respectively; he is known to Tibetans as Nyakre Khentrul Rinpoche. According to

Thupten Jinpa Thupten Jinpa Langri (born 1958) is a Tibetan Buddhist scholar, former monk and an academic of religious studies and both Eastern and Western philosophy. He has been the principal English translator to the Dalai Lama since 1985. He has translated ...

, principal English translator to the Dalai Lama, he is considered Known for his memory, intellectual insight, familiarity with modern culture, and effectiveness as a teacher of Western practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism, Rimpoche taught in English without a translator, claiming he learned "English watching the soap opera Days of Our Lives."

Early life and education

Gelek Rimpoche was recognized at the age of four as a

tulku A ''tulku'' (, also ''tülku'', ''trulku'') is an individual recognized as the reincarnation of a previous spiritual master (lama), and expected to be reincarnated, in turn, after death. The tulku is a distinctive and significant aspect of Tibet ...

, an incarnate lama. He was "recognized as the incarnation of one of the Gyuto Tantric College abbots called Tashi Namgyal. I believe I was recognized by the late Pabongka Dechen Nyingpo – the famous Pabongka." His father was the 10th Demo Rinpoche and his uncle was the 13th Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso. He received the highest scholastic degree of Geshe Lharampa, equivalent to a PhD, at the exceptionally young age of twenty, at Drepung Monastic University which he attended from the age of four to twenty. He was educated alongside the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso who said "he completed his traditional Buddhist training as a monk in Tibet prior to the Chinese Takeover." Rimpoche was tutored by many of Tibet's greatest teachers including the 14th Dalai Lama's senior and junior tutors, Kyabje Ling Rinpoche and Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche, who sent him to the West to teach, and Denma Locho Rinpoche and Song Rinpoche.

Exile

In 1959, ten days after the Dalai Lama fled to India, Gelek Rimpoche led a large group of Tibetans from

into exile in India. He then settled at a temporary camp with other lamas and monks in Buxa, India, where his education continued, although "there were no books, and classes had to be taught from memory only." He was one of the first students of the

Young Lamas Home School The Young Lamas Home School was a school established by the 14th Dalai Lama and Freda Bedi in 1960. Its funding was provided by Christopher Hills and its early abbot was Karma Thinley Rinpoche. Freda Bedi asked Chogyam Trungpa to train young Ti ...

. Later, he relinquished monastic life. "Many other Rinpoches, including Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche and Kyabje Ling Rinpoche, told me, "Even though you didn't remain as a monk, it doesn't mean you've resigned as a rinpoche." They told me I still have to carry the banner of Buddhism. So that's how it is." He was named director of

Tibet House Tibet Houses are an international, loosely affiliated group of nonprofit cultural preservation organizations established at the request of the Dalai Lama. They work to preserve, present, and protect Tibet's ancient traditions in philosophy, mi ...

in New Delhi, India, in 1965. In the 1970s, he served as head of Tibetan services and as a radio host at

All India Radio All India Radio (AIR), also known as Akashvani (), is India's state-owned public broadcasting, public radio broadcaster. Founded in 1936, it operates under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India), Ministry of Information and Broa ...

. He preserved over 170 volumes of rare Tibetan manuscripts that would have otherwise been lost and conducted over 1000 interviews, compiling an

oral history Oral history is the collection and study of historical information from people, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people who pa ...

of the fall of Tibet to Communist China that is in the US

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

' Tibetan Oral History

Archive An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials, in any medium, or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or organ ...

Project. In 1964, he was an exchange student at Cornell University.

Life in the west

Rimpoche moved to

Ann Arbor, Michigan Ann Arbor is a city in Washtenaw County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851, making it the List of municipalities in Michigan, fifth-most populous cit ...

, in 1987 to teach Buddhism at the request of two local women, Aura Glaser and Sandra Finkel, who met him on a trip to India during the mid-1980s. He first taught in Ann Arbor in 1985. He helped a

Case Western Reserve Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a private research university in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It was established in 1967 by a merger between Western Reserve University and the Case Institute of Technology. Case Western Reserve Univ ...

professor write a book on Tibetan history for two years in Cleveland, then moved to Ann Arbor. In 1988, with Glaser and Finkel, he founded and was president o
Jewel Heart
a nonprofit "spiritual, cultural, and humanitarian organization that translates the ancient wisdom of Tibetan Buddhism into contemporary life," in Ann Arbor, which has expanded to Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, Chicago, Cleveland, Nebraska, New York, Malaysia, and The Netherlands. The Dalai Lama visited Jewel Heart in Ann Arbor in 2008. Beat poet

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with Lucien Carr, William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of th ...

was among the more prominent of Jewel Heart's members. Ginsberg met with Gelek Rinpoche through the modern composer

Philip Glass Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...

in 1989, and they became great friends. Allen and Philip jointly staged benefits for the Jewel Heart organization. Professor

Robert Thurman Robert Alexander Farrar Thurman (born August 3, 1941) is an American Buddhist author and academic who has written, edited, and translated several books on Tibetan Buddhism. He was the Je Tsongkhapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at ...

, Joe Liozzo, and Glenn Mullin, are also Jewel Heart members and frequent lecturers. Cyndi Lee also teaches at Jewel Heart. Lodi Gyari Rinpoche, Venerable Thubten Chodron, and

Michael Imperioli Michael Imperioli (born March 26, 1966) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Christopher Moltisanti in the HBO crime drama series ''The Sopranos'' (1999–2007), which earned him the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Suppor ...

were also students of Rimpoche's. He became an American citizen in July 1994. Gelek Rinpoche died on February 15, 2017, in

, after undergoing surgery the previous month. Demo Rinpoche, Rimpoche's nephew, has served as Jewel Heart's Resident Spiritual Director, since 2018. In 2021

Tibet House US Tibet House US (THUS) is a Tibetan cultural preservation and education 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 1987 in New York City by a group of Westerners after the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, expressed his wish to establish a cultural inst ...

in New York City, partnered with th
Allen Ginsberg estate
and Jewel Heart International, on ''Transforming Minds: Kyabje Gelek Rimpoche and Friends'', a gallery show, video, and eventually online exhibition, of photos and drawings by Allen Ginsberg with whom Rimpoche had an "indissoluble bond," exemplifying the "transformational nature of this time in US history." "Fifty negatives guided by Allen's extensive notes on the contact sheets and images he'd circled with the intention to print," featured images of Rimpoche with friends, including "other great Tibetan masters, including Ribur Rimpoche and Khyongla Rato Rimpoche, images we had not known about," and "monks, Tibetologists, friends, and students, including Philip Glass, artist

Francesco Clemente Francesco Clemente (born 23 March 1952) is an Italian contemporary artist. He has lived at various times in Italy, India and New York City. Some of his work is influenced by the traditional art and culture of India. He has worked in various a ...

, founder of Tibet House US, Robert Thurman, poet

Anne Waldman Anne Waldman (born April 2, 1945) is an American poet. Since the 1960s, Waldman has been an active member of the Outrider experimental poetry community as a writer, performer, collaborator, professor, editor, scholar, and cultural/political acti ...

, and songwriter, singer, and poet,

Patti Smith Patricia Lee Smith (born December 30, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, poet, painter, author, and photographer. Her 1975 debut album '' Horses'' made her an influential member of the New York City-based punk rock movement. Smith has fu ...

Publications

Gehlek Rimpoche assisted Melvyn C. Goldstein in his writing of ''A History of Modern Tibet, Volume 1: The Demise of the Lamaist State, 1913-1951''. In 2001, Rimpoche's teaching with many biographical details, ''Good Life, Good Death: Tibetan Wisdom on Reincarnation'', with a foreword by the Dalai Lama, and an introduction by Robert Thurman, was published. "Buddhist readers will cheer about this fresh voice, and even those who don't believe in reincarnation will find something valuable in this short meditation on death. Many of Rimpoche's teachings since the mid 1980s, including intermediate and

vajrayana ''Vajrayāna'' (; 'vajra vehicle'), also known as Mantrayāna ('mantra vehicle'), Guhyamantrayāna ('secret mantra vehicle'), Tantrayāna ('tantra vehicle'), Tantric Buddhism, and Esoteric Buddhism, is a Mahāyāna Buddhism, Mahāyāna Buddhis ...

lightly edited transcripts and books, are available.

Selected bibliography

*''Good Life, Good Death: Tibetan Wisdom on Reincarnation'', (with Gini Alhadeff and Mark Magill, foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, introduction by Robert Thurman), Riverhead Books, 2001, *''The Tara Box: Rituals for Protection and Healing From the Female Buddha'' (with Brenda Rosen), New World Library, 2004, *''Essentials of Modern Literary Tibetan: A Reading Course and Reference Grammar'' (with Melvyn C. Goldstein, Lobsang Phuntshog), University of California Press, 1991, , *''How the Mind Works'', Jewel Heart, 2016, *''Perfection of Wisdom: An Essential Explanation of the Mantra and the Five Paths'', 2014, *''The Three Principles of the Path: A Brief Explanation'', Jewel Heart, 2014, *''Shantideva's Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life: Chapter 3; Full Acceptance of the Awakening Mind'', Jewel Heart, 2013, *''37 Wings of Change'', Jewel Heart, 2012, *''Shantideva's Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life: Chapter 6; Patience'', Jewel Heart, 2010, *''The Four Mindfulnesses: On the Basis of a Poem by the Seventh Dalai Lama with Commentary by Kyabje Ling Rinpoche'', Jewel Heart, 2009, *''The Four Noble Truths'', Jewel Heart, 2009, *''Shantideva's Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life: Chapter 7; Enthusiasm'', Jewel Heart, 2008, *''GOM: A Course In Meditation'', Jewel Heart, 2005, *''Lam Rim: Foundations of the Path'', Jewel Heart, 2005, *''Transforming Negativities'', Jewel Heart, 2004, *'' Catalogue : first exhibition in new Tibet House,'' (with Gyaltsen Yeshey, Nicholas Ribush, Trisha Donnelly); Tibet House, New Delhi, India, 1979, OCLC Number: 37437276

References

External links

Biography of Gelek Rimpoche
from Jewel Heart
''Remembering Gelek Rimpoche''
from Jewel Heart
Gelek Rimpoche White Tara Guided Meditation
Gelek Rimpoche leads a guided meditation on the healing and compassionate activity of Tara.
''The Great Debate – Gelek Rimpoche and Robert Thurman''
Cooper Union, New York City, 2003
''Enlightenment in Female Form''
by Gelek Rimpoche, Lion's Roar, February 17, 2017
Gelek Rimpoche author's page
Lion's Roar
Big Love: Gelek Rimpoche on Dharma in the West
1982 interview by Robyn Brentano, Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive, FPMT * *
''American Rimpoche''
documentary film about the life of Gelek Rimpoche
"Rubin Museum Show to Trace Francesco Clemente's Indian Inspirations"
New York Times article describes

's "series ''Clemente × 8'', a group of 90-minute discussions between Clemente and eight people he regards as masters in other fields: the musicians

and Nas; the chef

Eric Ripert Eric Ripert (; born 2 March 1965) is a French chef, author, and television personality specializing in modern French cuisine and noted for his work with seafood. Ripert's flagship restaurant, Le Bernardin, in Midtown Manhattan, New York has b ...

; the directors

Alfonso Cuarón Alfonso Cuarón Orozco ( ; ; born 28 November 1961) is a Mexican filmmaker. List of awards and nominations received by Alfonso Cuarón, His accolades include four Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and seven BAFTA Awards. Cuarón made h ...

Robert Lepage Robert Lepage (born December 12, 1957) is a Canadian playwright, actor, film director, and stage director. Early life Lepage was raised in Quebec City. At age five, he was diagnosed with a rare form of alopecia, which caused complete hair lo ...

and

David Chase David Henry Chase (born August 22, 1945) is an American writer, producer, and director. He is best known for being the creator, head writer, and executive producer of the HBO drama ''The Sopranos'', which aired for six seasons between 1999 and 2 ...

; the architect

Billie Tsien Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects (also known as Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects , Partners) is an architectural firm founded in 1986, based in New York City, New York. Williams and Tsien began working together in 1977. Their studio focuse ...

; and Gelek Rimpoche, a Tibetan Buddhist lama to whom Mr. Clemente is particularly close." {{DEFAULTSORT:Gelek, Kyabje 1939 births 2017 deaths Lamas from Tibet Gelug Lamas Tibetan writers Tibetan Buddhism writers Gelug tulkus American people of Tibetan descent Tibetan Buddhists from Tibet Rinpoches 20th-century lamas 21st-century lamas People from Lhasa Tibetan Buddhists from India Tibetan emigrants to India